The two top seeds should have little difficulty in dispatching their opponents. Memphis and New Orleans are both battling without key injured stars Rudy Gay and David West respectively. The Spurs and Lakers should win quickly in four or five games.

The other two series will more competitive. I think the Oklahoma City Thunder have enough to distant themselves from a deep Nuggets team but the games … but Dallas, I do not see being successful.

In the only upset in the first round, I see Portland beating Dallas in five games. Their size in the backcourt and on the wings being too difficult a matchup problem for the Mavericks to overcome. Dallas is too reliant on their small backcourts and too limited offensively without them to be favoured against the Blazers.